


Banished

by LiinHaglund



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Accidental Incest, Alternate Universe, Bad Parenting, Banished Loki, Canon? What Canon?, Character Death, F/M, Feelings, Female Loki, Grief/Mourning, Jotunn | Frost Giant, Jötunheimr | Jotunheim, Jötunn Loki, Loki's Kids, Self-Esteem Issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-07
Updated: 2016-08-28
Packaged: 2018-08-07 05:47:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7702924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiinHaglund/pseuds/LiinHaglund
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Loki has children Odin can't continue lying about her heritage. She's banished to Jotunheim, where freaks like her, and her children, belong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Where You Belong

**Author's Note:**

> I felt like sharing even though it's not done. (Mark For Later is an awesome invention, so use it if you'd rather read it when it's finished.)

Loki held her newborn close to her skin with one arm, and held on tight to her scared toddler with her other. The Bifrost had left the three of them on Jotunheim, on a frozen plain with the wind whipping snow up and creating a fine white mist.

Jotuns were creeping closer from all around and Loki cursed Odin and every other racist member of his line.

Her children had been born with a Jotun's deep blue skin and red eyes, inheritances from their Jotun father she had been sure. She had hidden on Midgard to avoid questions, but Frigga had... _helped_ was perhaps to strong a word, but the wretched woman had at least gotten the babe out. She had sent for her mother herself, when the babe had felt too big. As it turned out, Frigga was never her mother at all.

Loki wasn't used to seeing her own skin the color it was now. Blue. It really looked quite lovely and the father of her children would have adored the color, but it was new and alien to her. She was only used to seeing it on other people. It was a pity really, that Helblindi had never seen her like this. He would have helped her cope with her parents betrayal. Would have helped her cope with feeling like stranger in her own body.

She had given birth not a full day ago. It had been morning then, but it was a million years ago in her mind. Practically a different life.

The Jotuns stopped in a loose circle around her and her children. Waiting for something, she knew not what. Knowing one Jotun did not mean she had learned overly much about them or their culture. The Allspeak would let her communicate beyond the few straggling words she had picked up, but her grasp of anything relating to Jotun language or custom was tenuous at best.

As the pale sun set she was approached by someone she assumed was high ranking in their society. The other Jotuns all inclined their shaved heads respectfully.

“Who steps into Jotunheim uninvited?” the youth said harshly, but his eyes held more curiosity than hostility. Perhaps a lone female with two young children sparked more questions than signaled a threat.

“If I _knew_ , I would tell you,” Loki said in a dry voice, opting to not speak her name. “I was raised in Asgard, trapped under a spell that made me appear Aesir. When my children were born and they could no longer hide what I was, my... parents?” Loki laughed mirthlessly. “They cast me out. All I know is I was born on this frozen waste of a rock and taken during the war. Kill me if you will, but I ask that you spare my children. If nothing else their father was Jotun and has family here.”

The Jotun looked her over thoughtfully, then seemed to accept her story. “Follow me.”

Loki walked after the unknown giant when he started walking back in the direction he had come from. She had to pick her firstborn up and carry both children in order to keep up. It made pain shoot through her, but she had never been delicate, had never shied away from danger.

They would kill her either way.

Her clothes were bloody and torn, but it mattered little in the grand scheme of things. The walk was not long, which was a small blessing as her body was running on its last reserves. Not even her magic's unconscious help would be enough to keep her on her feet much longer.

Unfortunately they ended their journey in a throne room. A King and a Queen looking at her as curiously as the previous Jotun had. Loki curtsied as best she could with two babes and a tired body. Normally she would never have, but her children came before her pride. She needed help to find her lover's family and make them accept the children, should her life be in danger here. They had to live. They _had to_.

“Asgard sent this girl here, Father, she was taken during the war and raised among the Aesir. She asks we at least spare her children.”

Loki wasn't phased by having met a prince of Jotunheim. She was a princess. Had been a princess. Now she was nothing. Perhaps that would be better. Perhaps she would be left alone. There was always more pity available for the unfortunate ones.

The Queen stepped down from her throne and walked to where Loki stood. She moved with a fluid grace and a soft sway to her hips. Younger than Frigga, healthy and strong.

“The children are not marked, but they are fully Jotun,” the Queen remarked. “Who sired them?”

Loki wanted to tell her it was none of her damned business. Their father was dead. Executed. Odin had done it in front of her and her children just before he banished her here. It made sense now why she had been so drawn to a Frost Giant. Why his touched had not hurt her. But whose business was a dead Jotun if not the Jotun Queen's?

“He's dead now,” Loki said quietly, trying not to sound hostile. “Executed.”

The Queen traced the lines on Loki's face with gentle fingers. Loki had traced Helblindi's lines all the time. “Beheaded? We received a body just recently,” the Queen asked.

Loki nodded with closed eyes. Of course. One could hardly expect Odin to bother with the remains. She opened them slowly when she was sure she would not cry. “He never mentioned any names when he spoke of his family, all I know is that his name was Helblindi.”

The Queen turned to her husband and Loki tried to make her tired mind dig up their names. She knew the names of all royalty across the world tree, why did their names suddenly escape her now?

“Three runts,” the King muttered.

“I put those lines on her,” the Queen said, voice argumentative – challenging. Loki barely had enough wits about her to follow where they were headed.

The King grunted and rose up to stand at his full height. “As you wish,” he said. “She stays. Get her into a bed before we have to carry her.”

 

* * *

 

Loki woke up early. She was in a small room, most of which was taken up by a bed. She was curled around her newborn and her older child. Naked under the blanket, but clean. She became aware of a gentle hand stroking her hair and for a moment she thought it had to be her mother, but Frigga had turned her back on Loki. Sacrificed her and her children as if they meant nothing. Instead when she finally turned to look she saw the Jotun Queen.

“Our midwife looked at you while you slept. She could heal most of the damage,” the Queen said gently. “She was surprised you managed to walk at all.”

Loki didn't like the idea of someone touching her while she was unconscious, but she nodded her thanks because she had expected her death to be imminent when she was dumped here. She wasn't sure why they were wasting resources on her.

“What have they called you?”

“Loki.”

“Would you like to keep it?”

“Do you know what my name was before?” Loki asked softly. The Queen had seemed familiar with her last night. “Did you know my family? Do you know Helblindi's?”

“I know,” the older woman said, her hand still stroking Loki's hair. “Which poses a problem. Your children's father was related by blood to you. He was your brother.”

Loki groaned and buried half her face in the soft furs she was resting on.

“Hush. You did not know.”

“Still.”

Her newborn stirred and whined, so Loki put him to her breast for the second time since his birth. It was still odd to see her skin have such a color. Her older child still slept peacefully by some miracle. She traced a line going down her own arm. A soft hiss escaped her when the boy sucked a little too hard.

“It must have hurt, birthing him,” the Queen remarked.

Loki nodded emphatically. “I sent for... well, she's apparently _not_ my mother, but I thought so. He wouldn't come through and I was bleeding. If I had known what she would do I would have done it myself. It would have spared everyone a lot of pain.”

The continued touches to her hair reminded Loki a lot of Frigga, the few times they had been on good terms. It made her feel conflicted, because she did not deserve any mercy but at the same time she craved it. “Why are you here?” Loki asked in a whisper.

“We are family. You are my sister's child. We were twins, and greedy as he is Laufey married us both. We gave him two boys first. Helblindi was my firstborn. Byleist is my sister's, you met him last night. Then we both had daughters, except that hers was a runt. She called you Natt, Night, for your dark skin. She died in the war, and you were lost. A lost toddler in a destroyed city was not such an odd thing. When we couldn't find you we assumed you had died. I never would have guessed the Aesir would take a Jotun babe.”

Loki looked at her unnamed newborn who was nursing happily. “What does it mean to be a runt here?”

“It is not a thing we value, but a child is a child. We don't blame children for things they never had a choice in.”

“So mine are not in danger? Your husband did not seem pleased,” Loki said.

“No, they are in no danger. Neither are you. Laufey is not to be trifled with, but he is not cruel without a reason.”

Loki bit her tongue before spitting out some comment on how Odin was the same. They had lost a son, probably the crown prince. Byleist looked younger than Helblindi. She shouldn't goad the woman.

“Can I have some clothes?”

“Rest some more, first. The funeral is later today, save your strength. I will make sure you have eaten and dressed before then.”

 

* * *

 

She cried when they held the funeral. They had attached the head, somehow. Loki was on her knees on the ground while her toddler had gone over to the body. Death was a hard concept to grasp at that age. Every time her daughter begged for her dead father to wake up so her mother would stop crying Loki's heart broke into smaller and smaller pieces.

It seemed to make everyone else break apart too, for some reason.

She held her newborn gently, and she blamed herself. If she had not been so slim she could have managed the birth alone. Or if she had studied more, learned more about giving birth, then none of this would have happened.

Then her toddler gave up, realized that her efforts were in vain, and somehow that was even worse than seeing Helblindi's corpse.

Loki decided to place the blame where it belonged. In Asgard. She slowly turned her eyes to the sky. “I _trusted_ you,” she formed the words with no sound leaving her lips. Frigga would not hear her, but she did not need to. Odin might, but he likely cared nothing for her words. What good was a daughter who had lain with a monster, what good was a beast's whore no one wanted? “I won't make that mistake again.”

Hela came back to her and patted her head in a new effort to make her stop crying.

The funeral lasted a few hours, and once it was over and people started to leave Loki felt empty. She had cried until she had no more tears, and she felt as if she was filled with air.

It surprised her when Laufey haunched down and placed a hand on her shoulder. “The dead do not suffer,” he said quietly, “we will miss those who have died, but their suffering is at an end. Find strength in the memory, not the death.”

It was a surprisingly decent thing to say. She had expected him to be more of the savage Odin had always told stories about.

 

* * *

 

The morning after the funeral Loki sat with the rest of the family at breakfast. Helblindi's family. Her family. It felt more like she was a changeling, raised by the wrong parents and suddenly given back to live where she should have been all along. She saw her features in theirs, but she could not feel the sense of belonging she should.

“Hela!” Loki chided gently when her daughter banged her little fists on the table. She made Hela eat more of her porridge. The girl was restless and confused, she understood that. She just didn't want the child to get the wrong idea on what was and wasn't acceptable.

“You named her after the Queen of Helheim?” Laufey asked with an amused snort.

“She didn't breathe when she was born. I had no one with me, because I knew long before I started showing she was doomed if she took after her father. I tried anything I could think of, and when she finally screamed the first person I thought to thank was Hela for not taking her.”

“You gave birth alone?” Farbauti asked, appalled.

“Only way to hide it.”

“Couldn't you tell you had given birth to a full-blood Jotun?” Laufey asked.

Loki shook her head. “It certainly _felt_ like it, but I had never seen a Jotun child. I thought she just took after him more. Helblindi was surprised she took after... his kin so much.” She stuffed some food in her mouth and focused on chewing before she started bawling like a child about how good he had been to her and how good a father he had been to Hela.

“You thought you were Aesir, why would you take him as a lover?” Byleist asked.

“We met on Midgard. I wanted to get away from court so I went there to disappear for a while. He was the only other person there who had magic. It didn't matter at the time what he was, I just wanted someone to talk to who wasn't a clueless mortal. At first we only talked about spellwork, then...” she shrugged. “We started sleeping together. It wasn't love until years later.”

“I just though Aesir didn't like our kind,” Byleist said.

Loki smiled cruelly. “Whatever gave you that idea? Odin cut his _head off_. In front of his children, because he was somewhere _other than Jotunheim_. The public, of course, was not privy to Odin taking his illusion off me and banishing me here. It wasn't even a very strong spell, but I had discarded the magic because I had always felt it. It just wouldn't do to have them find out there had been something so foul among them all these years.”

Byleist looked away.

The fight abruptly left her. “I apologize,” she said quietly.

“No need, I understand that you're upset,” Byleist said.

Loki nodded. “Not with you.”

“I find it more odd that he would choose an ugly Aesir than that she would have chosen him,” Farbauti's daughter said.

“Aw, you're so sweet,” Loki gushed with a false smile.

“Eistla!” Farbauti hissed.

“I'm just saying they look ugly all over, it's not against her.”

“You'd be right though,” Loki said honestly. “If it was against me. I never fit the standards of beauty. I came to terms with that a long time ago.”

Farbauti glared at her daughter, and while Loki felt it had been in poor taste she really was used to it.

“ _Women_ ,” Laufey muttered. “If you're done squabbling there is business to tend to.”

 

 


	2. A Mother's Duties

Farbauti walked from room to room, waking the children up one by one. She still missed having her sister to share the burdens with, but most women had no twin sister to fall back on, so she would find a way just like they had.

She went to Natt last. Not because the girl meant the least to her, but because a new mother needed sleep. It was a little daunting to imagine that baby boy on those slim hips. Farbauti knew her sister would have been distraught to learn about her daughter's fate if she had been alive. The only thing worse than seeing the damage was hearing the hints that the woman who had been in charge of the girl had done it.

Natt was on the bed, but Farbauti had raised enough children to know she wasn't asleep. She sat down and stroked the girl's hair. She had seemed to like that before.

Farbauti saw Laufey in the doorway and motioned for him to be quiet. Sometimes she wondered how much men bonded with their children compared to women. A lot of their nonchalance was mere posturing, so she wasn't sure how they really felt. He had never paid the girl any attention when she had been a baby, but things had been hectic with the war and the evacuation.

Laufey walked into the small room and crouched down on the side of the bed where Hela was stretched out, gently scooping her up and holding her in his arms. The girl looked tiny compared to him, whereas compared to Natt she always seemed big.

“Loki,” Farbauti said gently.

“Call her by her name,” Laufey objected.

“She doesn't know another,” Farbauti said, “give her time and let her choose.”

Laufey looked none too pleased, but he didn't argue.

Natt had opened her eyes and immediately looked cautious when she saw her daughter in Laufey's arms. She was distrustful of all of them.

“It's time to eat,” Farbauti said, all the while stroking the girl's hair.

It took a while before Natt moved, but when she did she winced.

“Are you still hurt?”

“I've had worse,” Natt waved it off.

“Your mother was stubborn too,” Laufey commented. He kept a hold of Hela as long as the toddler allowed it, which was surprisingly long as far as Farbauti was concerned. They had reached the dining room and joined the others before the toddler whined when Laufey tried to feed her. Natt watched the two interact with suspicious eyes until the girl was given back to her.

They traded, Laufey taking the newborn boy and holding him. Farbauti saw that Byleist was itching to hold the children too.

“Do you mind, Loki?” Farbauti asked Natt. “I'm sure your siblings would like to touch them too.”

“Why?” Natt asked in a voice that suggested she'd rather eat fresh nettles.

“To get to know them. They are family,” Farbauti answered.

Natt looked to Hela. “Will you be scared if they hug you?”

Hela had two chubby fingers in her mouth and made some sound that didn't appear to have meaning. Natt passed her daughter to Farbauti.

“If she's hurt, someone _dies_. Painfully.”

“There's no point in hurting children,” Laufey said, but his eyes were on the baby. Again, Farbauti realized how small Natt's children were. The boy was not a true runt, but he was still small.

Farbauti held Hela for a little while before trying to pass the toddler to Eistla; her own daughter. Hela didn't like her at all, and Eistla seemed unsure of what to do with the small child, so Byleist took the little girl instead.

Hela looked at Byleist's face for a while before poking his heritage lines with her hand and saying “like daddy”.

“Uncle,” Natt enunciated clearly.

Hela made a movement with her arm and repeated the word.

Natt's face twitched a little. “Uncle Byleist,” she said. “Daddy's brother.”

Hela clapped her hands then. As much as she felt like correcting the family bond, Farbauti did not. There was more than enough time later to teach Hela how the family tree looked. Though the branches were no doubt more twisted than anyone preferred.

“She likes me,” Byleist gloated.

Natt rolled her eyes. “She liked Thor too.” She repeated the movement Hela had made. “Hammer,” she clarified.

“Did he know?” Byliest asked.

“Yes,” Natt shrugged. “He didn't mind. Much. Not after I had beaten him up a little, anyway. He said he'd always known I had weird tastes. He argued with Odin when -”

They were all quiet when she lost her words and just clenched her jaws. Farbauti hugged her, only to have Natt break free and move to stand a bit away.

“Why are we even bothering with her?” Eistla asked.

“Same reason we bother with you,” Laufey snapped.

“She's our sister,” Byleist said.

“She's a stranger,” Eistla pointed out.

“Only until we get to know her. We're strangers to her too,” Farbauti said pointedly. “You judge to harshly. She lost her husband, she lost the people she thought was her family and she suddenly has to cope with being someone else.”

“Why didn't Helblindi bring her here?” Eistla huffed. “If they liked each other he could have brought his runt kid and her here.”

Natt scoffed. “He said if he brought an Aesir home his father would kill him first and me second.”

“Such lies,” Laufey objected. “I would have killed the Aesir first and beat him up second.”

Natt snatched her newborn from Laufey.

“You would not have, so stop scaring the girl,” Farbauti scolded.

“I _would_ have hit him,” Laufey argued. “Bringing home Aesir as if they didn't slaughter our people and leave our realm in ruins.”

“You and Odin would make fine drinking companions,” Natt said. “Neither of you are capable of seeing individuals, only races. Never faces, only colors. No matter whose parents had found out my children would have lost a parent. If it matters to you at all; your son was better than that. He never laid a hand on anyone simply based on where they were born or what skin color they had.”

“Yes, Helblindi was always gentle,” Laufey said quietly. “He was my firstborn. We never got along, that's why he left, that's why I let him. I was hoping he would come back with a little more skin on his nose. Your grave, _Natt_ , is next to Helblindi's. We buried your toys, not your bones, but it's there. Every time Helblindi suggested we should have more contact with the Aesir I'd drag him there and ask him if his sister and aunt deserved what they got.”

“That's _enough_!” Farbauti yelled. “It's not helping.”

Farbauti noticed Hela crying and Byleist desperately trying to comfort her.

“And now you're down one son and have an Aesir daughter instead,” Natt told Laufey.

“At least you breed true,” Laufey said, showing too many teeth.

Natt held her son out to him. “There's always that.”

Once Laufey had taken the boy Natt switched to her Aesir skin and teleported away.

“Was any of that necessary?” Farbauti hissed.

“She won't go far,” Laufey said confidently.

“What if she does? What if she goes back?”

Laufey sighed.

“She's _scared_ , Laufey,” Farbauti said. “She's not even old enough to be called a woman yet, and she's terrified. Did you see how she looked when she saw you holding Hela? She's expecting us to hurt her and the babies.”

“Why would we?” Laufey scoffed.

“You saw the damage, when the midwife healed her, you saw. I know you did. The woman she grew up calling her mother did that. The man she grew up calling father cut Helblindi's head off in front of her. She's not even used to her _skin_ , she's surprised whenever she sees it. She doesn't know who we are, all she knows is that Helblindi was afraid to bring her home. _Don't you dare scare her again_!”

“ _Women_.”

Farbauti glared at her husband.

“Fine,” Laufey conceded.

 

 


	3. What Fathers Do

When she walked into the throne room she saw that her son was still with Laufey. For some reason the giant had yet to harm the boy.

“Farbauti worries over you,” Laufey said, from his throne, not even looking at her.

“She treats me better than I deserve.”

“I never knew you,” Laufey said, eyes still on the sleeping boy on his arm. “Before. I never knew you. The House Lines say you are mine, but I never held you.”

Loki bit her jaws together. “Fret not, no one else wanted to hold me either,” she said softly. She was sure it was mere coincidence that he kept pushing all the sorest spots she had, but it still made her hiss and snarl like a caged beast.

“They took you, why would they not have?” Laufey said it as if it was ridiculous, but she doubted he would have loved an Aesir child if it had been the other way around.

“Just another stolen weapon. I have magic, that's why Odin took me. To keep me where no monsters could use that against him.”

There was silence, and Loki had no idea what to say or do, or why she was even speaking to the Frost Giant. She realized Odin had made a mistake in his haste to throw her out; he had not bound her magic. Perhaps he had expected her to be killed or die from her wounds.

“I always regretted it,” Laufey said after a long while. Loki held her arms out for her son when he rose and walked towards her. Instead of giving the boy to her he picked her off her feet with his free arm.

Surreal was the mildest description of it.

“ _Men_ ,” she muttered.

When he didn't put her down she shifted enough to be more comfortable. It felt wrong. No one held her, not like this, not as a parent. There had been plenty of times when she had wanted it growing up, but royal children were held to a different standard. She had never been allowed to beg or whine.

Helblindi had lifted her off her feet sometimes to show off how strong he was, or to goof around.

Laufey felt warm, probably since she had been outside in the cold and he had spent the day indoors. Loki closed her eyes for a while and didn't fight him. She didn't trust him, but so far he had done nothing wrong.

 

* * *

 

Loki swore there was no way Farbauti was related to her. The woman was too genuinely nice. She woke Loki up with cuddles for one, that was just weird.

“Lemme sleep.”

Frigga would have hit her and demanded she get her lazy ass out of bed, but this creature kissed her cheek.

“Did the world end?”

Hands in her hair and soft chuckling was the reply she received and Loki had never been more weirded out. The woman just had to want something. There was a hidden motive somewhere. Perhaps Frost Giants were just crazy as a breed, that would certainly explain a few things.

Loki opened her eyes and checked her children over before she carefully stretched. There was one more woman in the room, this one waiting patiently off to the side.

“This is our midwife, I thought she could check you over again?” Farbauti coaxed gently.

“If you want,” Loki shrugged.

The woman made her way over and sat down on the bed next to Loki. She had to be more of a healer, because her hands moved fluidly just a hairsbreadth over Loki's skin while some sort of spell was weaved.

Once the spell was complete her hands made contact and she very professionally examined everything from Loki's breasts to her genitals. She kept her eyes on Loki's face and the slightest wince made her change her touch to a less tender area.

“Can I?” the woman asked with a gesture toward Loki's children. Loki nodded hesitantly, and she kept a close eye on what the woman did to them.

Farbauti never left her throughout all of it.

“The boy is recovering well, what happened to him?” the midwife asked.

“I healed him,” Loki said, in a quiet voice.

“He was born not a day before I first saw to you.”

Loki nodded and she found it hard to talk about it. That wasn't like her, she normally loved throwing all the details in people's faces. She sat up and pulled her legs close to her chest so that she could rest her chin on her knees. She had done that a lot over the years. The pain in her abdomen was gone, thanks to whatever the woman had done. It felt good, not to have to deal with physical pain on top of mental pain.

“You said your mother helped,” Farbauti coaxed. Her arms wrapped around Loki. Unlike Frigga she was muscled, strong even though she seemed thin compared to the male Jotuns. It felt like she could protect her children. Like she was not just a pretty face. Loki leaned a little on her, and thought back to how easily Laufey had picked her up.

Strong, but gentle.

Helblindi had always been like that too. The strength to pull trees up by the roots, but gentle enough to never break a branch as he walked through a forest. It had made her feel safe with him, and it made her feel safe in Farbauti's arms.

“My guess is whoever was with her cut her open with a knife, using very little regard for either of them,” the midwife mused when Loki still said nothing. “I've seen it before, though never this bad.”

“Thank you,” Loki said, lost in her own head, “for healing me.”

The midwife stroked her cheek, and Loki tried to remember when she had last been around so many people who wanted to be gentle with her.

 

* * *

 

When Loki slipped into brooding and wouldn't get up after the midwife had left, Farbauti stayed. She left in the evening to see to her children and Laufey came to sit by her instead. Loki tried to picture Odin and Frigga sitting at her bedside and only succeeded when she pictured them doing it for Thor.

“The midwife was upset,” Laufey said.

“I have that effect on people.”

“Not with you. Your mother was upset too.”

“You mean your wife? The only mother I've known is Frigga. I don't know what's wrong with Farbauti, I don't know why she cares, what she _wants_. She's treating me like I have a value other than as a whore,” Loki ranted.

“Say that again and I will hit you,” Laufey hissed.

“What else would you do with _me_? What use could I have here? Daughters are nothing but whores to be sold,” Loki challenged. It was the truth. She could not stay in Asgard when arranging a marriage for her was impossible, no one would take her after she had laid with a beast. That still counted as a win in her book.

She certainly did not want the fat and lazy nobles who would have approached Odin for her hand.

For a moment she was sure he would lose his temper and strike her. She deserved to be hit and he looked like he wanted to. She was long overdue a good whipping. Instead he grabbed her chin firmly and forced her to look him in the eyes. “Who called you a whore?”

“Who hasn't,” Loki hissed. She was a little surprised when he allowed her to break the hold on her chin. It hadn't even hurt.

“Asgard must be such a charming place,” he muttered bitterly.

Loki bared her teeth, but she no longer looked at him.

“Your mother was not sold to me, she and Farbauti chose to marry me. Likewise, you and Eistla will never be sold. It's not how our culture works. It's not my job as a father to tell you who you should fuck.” His large hand tangled in her hair, gently stroking her head. “You don't need to be useful. You're my daughter. That is enough.”

“How can that be enough?”

Laufey nodded his head to her sleeping children. “Do they need to be useful?”

Loki shook her head as much as she could with his hand in her hair. “They're babies.”

“You're not old enough to be called an adult yet. Even if you were, we can certainly afford to feed and clothe you. Why should children stress about being useful? One day even Eistla will do something helpful. It might not be much, might not be soon, but if Farbauti and I do our jobs right then one day, all of you will want to help somehow.”

Loki tried to find the lie, the deception, the manipulation. All she found when she looked into his red demon eyes – Had she ever thought of Helblindi's as a demon's eyes? - was an adult explaining a basic concept to a child.

“Asgard's customs don't apply here,” he said quietly, a hint of anger creeping into his voice.

 

 


End file.
